The Turkish American Community Center (TACC) currently under construction in Lanham, MD (between I-495/I-95 and Md. Route 193) is a $90 million, multi-use project, built to serve as a community and cultural gathering place. The project consists of five main buildings, an underground parking garage, and a geothermal well field on a 15 acre site. The five buildings, each designed with a unique style, are: a 760 person mosque constructed using 16th century classical Ottoman architecture; a two-story, 19,990 sq.ft Cultural Center Building; a 9,850 sq.ft recreational building; a 43,450 sq.ft traditional Turkish bath, indoor pool, and sports center; and 18,500 sq.ft of guest housing. Much of the campus sits atop a 150,700 sq.ft underground parking garage, providing access to all of the main buildings.As the YouTube video below illuminates, the TACC buildings are framed with a complex array of reinforced concrete elements, including 40-foot wide arches, rigid frames, 210 foot tall minarets, and a massive 80-cubic-yard central dome structure. To create these complicated structures, the project team utilized detailed BIM modeling, unique structural analysis methods, and innovative construction techniques.

In other words, it won’t be brought down easily in times of war.

Do these Americans builders realize how the Turkish president refers to mosques and why he’s building it in such a strategic location?

“The minarets are our bayonets; the domes are our helmets. Mosques are our barracks, the believers are soldiers. This holy army guards my religion. Almighty, Our journey is our destiny, the end is martyrdom.”

…who pledge to make infidels suffer – as if the media hasn’t made infidels suffer enough with incessant Islamic ass-kissing and propaganda. The second time Albuquerque and Tennessee (two states rapidly Islamizing) have been hacked for ISIS recently. And of course it was reported yesterday that the U.S. military’s Central Command Twitter Account Hacked.

Local audiences were surprised to see militant, Pro-ISIS tweets and images on the Twitter feeds of the Albuquerque Journal and CBS and Fox affiliates in Delmarva, Maryland, and a station in Tennessee earlier this week, sending those news organizations scrambling to regain control of their social media accounts and leaving some scratching their heads as to why a group sympathetic to ISIS would target local media markets.

Hackers, who call themselves CyberCaliphate, posted familiar images of a man with his face shrouded in a scarf as well as messages such as “With Allah’s permission we began with New-Mexico and we are in Tennessee now. We hacked FBI databases. #CyberCaliphate,” and pledged “INFIDELS, NEW YEAR WILL MAKE YOU SUFFER.”

Indeed it appeared that the group had accessed government sites since a link on the Twitter feed for the Tennessee station led to a dump of what Stewart County, Tenn. Mayor Rick Joiner told AOL News were legitimate documents from government servers there. In addition, a link to a document dump on Pastebin on the Albuquerque Journal’s Twitter account revealed personal data and alleged sealed criminal records of people residing in New Mexico, the AOL report said.

The nature of the messages and the hack point away from ISIS’s “official” presence on social media, which, Ian Amit, vice president at ZeroFox, told SCMagazine.com in an interview are “typically closely tied to things they do on the ground.” ISIS activity on social media is usually centered around supporting their activities and events. “There’s not a lot of malicious activity but rather more propaganda,” said Amit. “They’re trying to spread the word and justify their actions.”

Instead, members of CyberCaliphate are more likely an ad hoc group of “keyboard warriors” who want to join the cause but “are less inclined to pack their bags and ship over to Eastern Europe or the MidEast” to join in combat, said Amit.

On November 8, 2014 with much fanfare this dream was realized. The Islamic Society of Germantown opened its doors to politicians, imams, and hundreds of visitors and most importantly to those who had been waiting for the past 13 years when the society bought the parcel of land —nearly an acre—at 19825 Blunt Road in 2002.

The hard work and fundraising paid off when County Executive, Isiah Leggett, cut the ribbon for the Grand Opening of the Islamic Society of Germantown, which includes a brightly lit childcare center and a well equipped industrial kitchen that will serve the greater community. A halal meat store and food facility (after permission is granted from the county) is planned to help make the masjid self sufficient.

Really? Was that part of the building and zoning application?

Speaking at the opening. Reverend Kaseman from the county’s interfaith liaison called it a sacred space where “we all take off our [worldly] shoes”.

Mimi Hassanein, Montgomery County Middle Eastern liaison [why does the county need one of these?] and community leader, says that it was difficult for Germantown locals to go to Islamic Center of Maryland in Gaithersburg or to the Islamic Society of Frederick, and those services were also at maximum capacity. This masjid can hold 370 worshippers at a time in a 9,080 square-foot building which cost nearly 2.2 million dollars to build.

“This is not just a mosque, this is also a community center,” she said, informing the community about tours and plans for activities that would help residents connect with resources, join PTAs and become civically engaged.

Hamza Khan, who served as Director of Outreach for the John Delaney for Congress campaign, spoke about growing up in Montgomery County with only two options for prayers versus the 30 congregations that are now scattered over the county.

Wait, there are 30 Islamic congregations in the county? Yet readers were just told two paragraphs prior that “it was difficult for Germantown locals to go to” other mosques? The math isn’t quite adding up.

“Now that we are here, we will be opening up the board for sisters and brothers to get involved,”said Khan.

Not a sister in sight

Thanking the community, while glorifying Allah, he said that the qard e hasana is close to $480,000 and the board hopes to pay the lenders back in two years.

It’s true. Owner Qayum Karzai is the brother of the former Afghan president. Qayum even ran for election to replace his brother earlier this year, but dropped out of the race. His first restaurant was in Chicago, but he sold it some years back to concentrate on the Baltimore location, which marked its 25th year in October. And if you hear the same story about Karzai’s brother owning a restaurant in the Boston area, as it turns out, another brother runs a Helmand in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

He should be serving food for free for the tens of millions his brother stole from U.S. taxpayers.

The Thomas More Law Center (TMLC) today announced its representation of John Kevin Wood, and his wife Melissa, in their battle with La Plata High School in Maryland over the Islamic indoctrination of their 11th grade daughter in her World History class. Their daughter was required to complete assignments where she had to affirm that “There is no god but Allah” and the other Five Pillars of Islam.

The case gained national attention when the school banned John Wood from entering school property after he objected to the religion of Islam being taught in his daughter’s history class and demanded that she be given an alternative assignment. The school refused. Wood, a former Marine who served in Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm and lost friends in that action, saw firsthand the destruction caused in the name of Allah and that Islam is not “a religion of peace;” and he would not budge from his position.

The Thomas More Law Center (TMLC) is a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. TMLC Senior Trial Counsel, Erin Mersino, and Maryland attorney, Michael F. Smith of The Smith Appellate Law Firm, represent the Wood family. Yesterday they filed a request for records relating to the case under Maryland’s Public Information Act.

On October 22, 2014, John Wood discovered that his daughter was being forced to repeat religious tenets of Islam as a part of her World History class assignment. She was required to write how the prophet Muhammad was visited by the Angel Gabriel and preached that there is only one true god, who is Allah. The assignment made her write that Mohammad is the messenger of Allah and that the Qur’an is holy text. The assignment required her to affirm that “Allah is the same god that is worshipped in Christianity and Judaism” and that the “Qur’an is the word of Allah revealed to Mohammad in the same way that Jews and Christians believe the Torah and the Gospels were revealed to Moses and the New Testament writers.” The assignment also forced young women such as the Woods’ daughter, to fill in the following sentences: “Men are the managers of the affairs of women” and “Righteous women are therefore obedient.”

When John Wood discovered the Islamic propaganda and indoctrination, he was rightfully outraged, and that evening unsuccessfully tried to contact the school by phone to voice his objections. Wood witnessed firsthand the destruction caused in the name of Allah and knows Islam is not “a religion of peace.” He served in Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm, and lost friends in that action. On 9-11, Wood responded as a firefighter to the smoldering Pentagon. He refused to allow La Plata High School to subject his daughter to Islamic indoctrination despite the threatened academic consequences.

The next day, October 23rd, Wood, had a phone conversation with a La Plata vice principal where he again reiterated his objections to his daughter being indoctrinated into the religion of Islam. The vice principal indicated that his daughter, a high school junior with college hopes, would receive zeros on her assignments on Islam if she did not complete them. He asked how the religion of Islam could be taught when schools are prohibited from teaching the religion of Christianity.

The following day, October 24th, John Wood again spoke with the vice principal. She again refused to allow an alternative assignment.

Commenting on the case, Richard Thompson, TMLC’s President and Chief Counsel stated: “Adding insult to injury, in an arrogant and unnecessary display of power, La Plata’s principal issued a written “No Trespass” notice, which denied this former Marine who stood in harm’s way defending our country including the principal and her staff, any access to school grounds. The school’s actions not only dishonored John Wood’s service, but the service of all men and women in our Armed Forces who defended our nation from Islamic violence. True to his Marine training, John Wood stood his ground. He did not retreat. Yes, his daughter has received a failing grade in her World History Class. But the story is not yet over.”

In the month of October, the Islamic Society of Baltimore (ISB) received a $74,675 grant from the Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NGSP) run by Maryland Emergency Management Agency (MEMA). The grant will be used towards upgrading, enhancing and adding to ISB’s security infrastructure, according to the official letter sent by ISB President Mohammed Abdul Khadeer.

In place since 2005, the grant is a part of Department of Homeland Security’s Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI). To be eligible a non- profit organization must be, “determined by the Secretary of Homeland Security to be at high risk of terrorist attack due to their ideology, beliefs, or mission.” For fiscal year 2014, $13,000,000 was allocated for the NGSP.

Muslim Link spoke with Faisel Maniar who sits on ISB’s Grants Committee with Mohsin Majid and Attaulla Khan as members and Abid Husain as the chair. When the notification for the FEMA grant was announced, the committee wasted no time and developed the winning proposal. The committee also benefited with inputs from Rehan Alavi, former ISB Council member.

The news of ISB’s 2014 receiving the grant was blogged out on several anti- Muslim websites, which often spew hate rhetoric about Muslims and keep regurgitating fear tactics about ‘stealth jihad’. Their main objection is that tax payer’s money is being used to keep Muslim schools and religious centers— tax exempt organizations—safe from attacks. ISB has been a recipient since 2005.

The hate rhetoric spewed from the Koran can not be equaled.But the author has a point on the taxes. End all taxpayer-funded grants to all tax-exempt organizations…religious or not, Muslim or Jewish. End the IRS and DHS too.

Only a handful of Muslim organizations have received this grant. According to the Forward, a Jewish daily, Jewish institutions throughout the United States received $9.7 million in federal anti- terrorism grants out of a total of $10 million in 2012, approximately 97% of the total budget. Other recipients included Catholic churches and a Planned Parenthood center.

After the Oak Creek Sikh temple massacre, as well as several masjid attacks including in Tennessee and Missouri, Islamic Centers are a prime target for terrorist activity, especially from white supremacists. The Council on American Islamic Relations recommends that Muslim non-profits apply for the grant.